


Another place, another time

by erytheis



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Captain Marvel (2019) Mid-Credits Scene, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 06:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18277322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erytheis/pseuds/erytheis
Summary: So long ago, Rhodey had mourned, had cried, and had locked down her memory deep inside his heart. Now, though, she was back, as beautiful as ever, as fierce as ever.





	Another place, another time

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So yesterday I finally watched Captain Marvel, and then went looking for a Carol/Rhodey fanfic set after the mid-credits scene, but I found nothing, so I had to write something, even if it's short. There's obviously spoilers about that scene and Endgame trailers, but there isn't a lot of spoilers for Captain Marvel, just general ones, so you can read this even if you haven't watched the movie.
> 
> English is not my first language, so if you spot any mistake, please tell me and I'll fix it. I hope you enjoy this! Have a nice day!

“Where’s Fury?”

Rhodey looked up at the new voice, sounding strangely familiar. Natasha draw her gun immediately, while Bruce took a few steps back and Steve positioned himself, as if expecting a fight. Rhodey could only stare, open-mouthed, and wondered if it was a dream. But stranger things had happened.

“Carol?” His voice was faint, barely more than a whisper, but nonetheless all heads turned at him. Including Carol’s.

“You know her?” Steve asked, but Rhodey ignored him, still staring like he was seeing a ghost. And he was, Carol died, in an extra-classified mission nobody but Maria told him about, so long ago. But there she was, looking like no time had passed since he last saw her at Pancho’s, back in 1989, just the day before the accident.

“Who...?” Carol seemed confused and out of place, and she narrowed her eyes, staring back at him. Rhodey’s hope fell as rapidly as it had risen; maybe he’d made a mistake, and that girl wasn’t Carol at all. Maybe it was just someone who looked awfully like her. Maybe he was starting seeing things. But why Carol, the oldest possible wound?

But then Carol’s eyes grew big, and she walked closer to him, throwing her arms around him in a bone-crushing hug.

“Jim! Oh my God, you’ve grown so much. Look at you, you’re a man now!”

Rhodey hugged her back, still half-believing it was a dream. But she felt real, _too_ real.

They only stepped back after Steve loudly cleared his throat. Natasha was still aiming at Carol, but her posture seemed more relaxed, and she was looking at Rhodey inquisitively. He nodded, and Natasha lowered her gun.

“How are you here?” Rhodey ended up asking, more curios than surprised, to be honest, because he was past the point where he could accept anything impossible happening, and he’d always been quick to adapt. “And why do you look exactly the same as… last time I saw you?”

Carol smiled softly, and Rhodey melted. He felt like a rookie again, fresh out of college and into the Air Force, with a major crush on Captain Danvers, eight years his senior and definitely out of his league.

“It’s a long history, baby. I’ll tell you later. Now, where’s Fury?”

“Fury’s dead,” Steve said, gravely. “We found his car and the… pager thing I guess he called you with.”

Carol frowned, and Rhodey could swear he saw some sadness in her eyes, even if he didn’t have a clue about how she knew Fury, and why was she on his speed dial. Well, too many pieces of the puzzle were missing, so it was futile to try to understand.

“That’s bad,” Carol stated the obvious. “I’d hoped he’d survived Thanos’ Decimation.”

“You know about Thanos,” Natasha said as Carol nodded. “Are you here to help us fight him, then?”

“I’m here to end the fight.”

 

* * *

 

Rhodey sighed as he fell back to the couch, tired and in pain. The braces had been acting up all day but he’d been too busy to have a look at them. If Tony’d been there, he would have noticed instantly what was wrong.

“I guess it’s time I give you the unabridged version.” Rhodey felt a body sitting beside him, and there was Carol, smiling. “And you have to tell me about you, _Colonel_.”

Carol had briefly explained to the Avengers who she was and what she was capable of, and how she knew Fury. It sounded straight out of a Sci-Fi comic book, but then again, so did everything that had happened since the Invasion of New York, and even before that.

Rhodey couldn’t help but feel a bit hurt that Carol hadn’t reached out to him when she was back in Earth in 1995, but he understood. Not only she didn’t have all her memories yet, but she’d been in the middle of an intergalactic war and he’d only known her for a few months, and he’d just been a Second Lieutenant who’d tried to get too close to one of his superiors. Yes, there had been _that_ night, and _that_ promise, but Rhodey had been too young, and Carol used to be too responsible to let it go on, if she hadn’t… disappeared.

Still, it hurt. And Carol had always been the one that got away, as Tony used to call her. He couldn’t help but wonder how things could have played out differently, if only she’d stayed.

Carol retold him her story with a little more detail, and Rhodey listened intently, before also opening up about his own life, even if it wasn’t nearly as interesting as hers, and that was counting being War Machine. He told her the tank story though, and she laughed, unlike the Avengers, even if it sounded like child’s play compared to her own stories.

“You know, I used to think about… what it could have been, if you hadn’t died. I know, it’s stupid, but…”

“No, it’s not stupid,” Carol interrupted. “Sometimes, after I remembered, I did too. You have a lot of time to reflect on your thoughts when you’re alone in space. But I don’t think it would have worked out, Jim, it was wrong. You were just a kid.”

Intellectually, Rhodey knew it was the truth. He couldn’t believe how naïve he had been as a 21-year-old to think there was a future between them. But knowing didn’t mean it didn’t sting any less.

“Yeah, I was just a stupid kid. I’m sorry I put you in a compromised position, even if now all these military protocols must seem banal to you.”

“You didn’t put me anywhere I didn’t want to be, Jim. I’m just saying, I don’t think it would have worked out _then_.” Carol stressed the last word, and Rhodey stared at her with disbelief, and maybe also some hope. “Now, I’m not your superior anymore, we’re not Air Force. We’re in another place, another time.”

“Carol, come one, I’m a crippled old man, you surely don’t…” Rhodey stopped as Carol inched closer, grabbing his hand with her own.

“If you’re an old man, what does that make me? I’m still almost sixty, even if I don’t look like it.”

Rhodey would have thought, that after all these years, after a long-lost and fleeting romance, that Carol would have found someone else. He sure knew he should have found somebody else, but he decided to focus on his career, no more distractions, no more loss, no more pain.

“You don’t have to say anything right now,” Carol whispered after Rhodey kept trying and failing to force some words out. “It’s not like we have the time, with Thanos and everything. And I know you lost that friend of yours you used to talk so much about. I just thought… we could think about it, that’s all.”

“We deserve a second chance,” Rhodey finally said, smiling, and squeezed Carol’s hand. “Let’s save the universe.”


End file.
